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After an otherwise lovely weekend spent with my cousin, visiting from Pittsburgh, I had a series of encounters today that left me frustrated with and perplexed by society. First, I was asked to contribute a dollar to a young and perfectly healthy man’s meal at McDonalds and tracked to the parking lot when I refused to do so. Next, an older man standing in the middle of the street hit my car (and others!) while stopped at a red light to grab our attention and demand money. Finally, while waiting in Union Station, DC, for my cousin’s bus to arrive, I noticed an elderly lady struggling to pull along her suitcase. I asked her if she needed any help, thinking she would direct me to the suitcase’s intended destination. Her response: “Could I please buy her two cinnamon rolls from Au Bon Pain to compliment her large coffee already in hand?” Which leads me to MY response, to all three of these people: Are you asking, or demanding? And if it’s the latter, do those who do your bidding still get to label it as an act of charity?

As much as I’d like to pose this question, my current mode of coping is cooking. Besides, the Taliban are picking off boys on the street and tricking them into performing suicide bombings in Afghanistan, so our society could certainly be in a worse state!

I’ve taste-tested a simple, healthy recipe for fajitas. It can be found at: http://www.food.com/recipe/steak-or-chicken-fajitas-63786. The tweaks I made are as follows: Instead of using steak, I used boneless, skinless chicken breast. The lime juice can be substituted with lemon juice, depending on what you have in the fridge. I used frozen red and green peppers in place of the onion and fresh peppers – a time and money saver! As toppings, I only used salsa and pepper jack cheese and the fajitas were delicious. With 1 Tbs. pepper jack cheese, and 2 Tbs. salsa, each fajita comes out to be a mere 220 calories!

This recipe took about 45 minutes from start to finish. It makes a great take-to-work lunch as well: I wrap a tortilla in aluminum foil, put the fajita mixture, salsa, and cheese in containers, and re-live the plating experience! They even taste good cold.

Some more tweaks floating around in my head:

– If you get sick of fajita leftovers, why not try fajita pizza? Use the tortilla as the crust, sprinkle some tomato sauce on, then top with the fajita mixture and a little extra cheese…yes?

– If short on time, buy oven roasted chicken breast and spray with Pam to allow for adhesion of the seasonings (chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper).

While I can’t resist beggar scare tactics, as this would only place me as a bully to society’s victims, I can make a mean fajita. If you had a frustrating day, I highly recommend de-stressing with this quick and easy recipe. And if you have any adaptations of your own that simplify it further, tweak away!